There is one vacancy, in the seat of Judge Stephen Trott, who took senior status in 2004.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on July 19 approved the nomination of Magistrate Judge Fernando M. Olguin, nominated May 14 to fill the vacancy created by Judge Jacqueline Nguyen’s elevation to the Ninth Circuit.

On July 12, the committee approved the nomination of Jesus G. Bernal, deputy federal public defender in charge of the Riverside office, to succeed Judge Stephen G. Larson. President Obama nominated him April 25 to a seat that had been vacant since Larson resigned Nov. 2, 2009.

Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank took senior status March 1.

There are no vacancies.

Judge John Shook retired July 15 of last year, Judge Martha Bellinger July 31, Judge Judith Champagne Sept. 1, Judge Michael Latin Sept. 5, Judge Maral Injejikian Sept. 6, Judge Peter D. Lichtman Oct. 31, Judge Rita Baird Dec. 30, and Judge Burt Pines Dec. 31.

Judge Marjorie Steinberg retired Feb. 14 of this year, Judge Jacqueline Connor Feb. 24, Judge Carl J. West Feb. 29, Judge Gary Hahn March 7, Judge Rose Hom March 27, Judge Anita Dymant April 10, and Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani May 11. Judge Gary E. Daigh retired July 16 and Judge Judith Vander Lans July 31.
Commissioner George Kalinski retired at the end of June.

Among those whose names have been sent to the JNE Commission as possible appointees to the court are Irvine attorney James L. Crandall, Deputy County Counsel Julie Ann Silva; Deputy Public Defenders Enrique Monguia, Lee W. Tsao and Johan ElFarrah; Deputy District Attorneys Kathleen Tuttle and Brentford Ferreira; Montebello attorney and school board member Edwin Chau, who is also running for the state Assembly; Los Angeles attorney Douglas W. Stern; Glendale attorney Kenneth Wright; Court of Appeal staff attorneys Kenneth E. Roberson and Kim Nguyen; Superior Court Commissioners Sharon Lewis Miller, Mark Zuckman, David Cowan, Lloyd Loomis, Lori Behar, Dennis Mulcahy and Kenneth Taylor; Los Angeles attorney Angel Navarro; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wesley Hsu.

The Legislature took the following action on bills of interest to the legal community in August.

•AB 1875, by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Burbank, which would, with exceptions, require court approval to depose a witness for more than seven hours. Employment cases and expert witness depositions would be exempt. As amended in the Senate Aug. 14, depositions in complex cases would be exempt, except that if a witness in such a case suffers from a terminal illness, the deposition would be limited to two seven-hour days. Another amendment allows a party who comes into a case after a witness has been deposed to conduct a new deposition of that witness. The bill was further amended in the Senate Aug. 22 to eliminate a requirement that leave of court be obtained to take a deposition of seven hours or less over multiple days.

•AB 2466, by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys, which would allow a court to order the preservation of the assets and property of persons charged with human trafficking. The bill was amended in the Senate Aug. 6 and Aug. 8, and passed the Senate Aug. 23 by a vote of 37-0. On Aug. 28, the Assembly concurred in the Senate amendments by a vote of 80-0.

•AB 2685, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which would set 2013 State Bar dues in the present amount, without the $10 rebate authorized last year. The bill passed the Senate Aug. 9 by a vote of 36-0, and was ordered to engrossing and enrolling by the Assembly Aug. 28.

•SB 9, by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, which would establish criteria by which a sentencing court could reconsider the sentence of life imprisonment without parole, when the offender was a juvenile at the time of the crime. The bill passed the Assembly Aug. 16 by a vote of 41-34, and the Senate concurred in Assembly amendments Aug. 20 by a vote of 21-17.

•SB 1186, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, which would establish notice requirements for an alleged aggrieved party to follow before bringing an action against a business for an alleged violation of the disability access laws, and would require that the responsible party be allowed 90 days to fix the violation before the aggrieved party could file a treble-damage suit as permitted by existing law. The bill was amended in the Assembly Aug. 24. As amended, the bill would, among other things, require attorneys to include their State Bar numbers on demand letters, prohibit inclusion in such letters of demands for payment of money, and allow a court to consider the conduct of the plaintiff in determining the amount of statutory damages.

•SB 1528, by Steinberg, which would make it easier for a county to recoup costs of treating injured persons from third party tortfeasors. As amended in the Assembly Aug. 24, it would also permit a an injured person whose health care is provided through a public or private capitated health care service plan to recover as damages the reasonable and necessary value of medical services, but the effect of that provision was limited by a further amendment Aug. 29.